The Tao of Sales: The Easy Way to Sell in Tough Times [Hardcover]

E. Thomas, Ph.D. Behr (Author), Laozi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

Every business person knows that the old approaches to selling just don't work any more. Focused on applying the principles of the Tao to dealing with others, this book shows readers how to succeed in a new and unfamiliar customer-driven world. The Tao of Sales guides readers along a transformational path so that they think and act in harmony with the changing times in which we live. $50,000 budget.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

American Management Association official E. Thomas Behr is both a long-time business consultant and admirer of the timeless Tao Te Ching. In The Tao of Sales: The Easy Way to Sell in Tough Times, he combines the two and demonstrates how the classic Chinese philosophy can be used to build effective contemporary business relationships. His exercises and activities aren't for everyone, but neither were Lao-Tzu's 81 simple ideas when first introduced some 14 centuries ago.

Review

An excellent publication to help in professional and personal development. -- Thomas Wood-Young, President of Wood-Young Consulting and author of Intuitive Selling.

Thank you for The Tao of Sales. I use selections from the book at our monthly meetings to help us become a better organization. -- Gary H. Hart, President and COO, Cobra Consulting Services

Thanks for The Tao of Sales. It gives hope and reinforcement to those wanting to practice ethical salesmanship. -- Fred Bridges, CFP

The Tao of Sales combines motivation, spirituality, and business. Not only is Tom Behr a compelling guest...He is right! -- Talk America Radio

Tom Behr has single handedly added a whole new dimension to business. I highly recommend him. -- Joel Javer, host of Financial Talk Radio --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 169 pages
• Publisher: Element Books Ltd; 1 edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862040583
• ISBN-13: 978-1862040588
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,107,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My wife JoAnn and I have been restoring our 1730's house for 25 years. What madness! I decided I needed a break from crumbly old plaster and hopelessly crooked walls and ceilings. Why not write the historical novel that has been simmering inside me since I was 10 years old, I thought? So I did.

My passion for historical novels started with Kenneth Roberts' Lydia Bailey, and has evolved over the years into a joyful addiction. My love of sailing started about the same time.

I have planned this book as the first in a series of novels that will unfold the lives of the two main characters and the women they love. Later novels will depict Henry Doyle's fight to save his adopted Iroquois nation and his early career as a spy, Peter Kirkpatrick's involvement in the War of 1812 as a privateer captain, and in The Most Bold and Daring Act of the Age, the final successful suppression of the Barbary pirates in 1815, in which Peter rescues Henry from his Algerian captors.

I have a M.A. in American Literature from the Bread Loaf School of English, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in Renaissance and 18th Century studies.
My family includes daughters Mary Behr, Jennifer Behr Wilson and her husband Jordan Wilson, and two grandchildren, Maggie Grace Wilson and Finn Thomas Wilson.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing it all together, January 24, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tao of Sales: The Easy Way to Sell in Tough Times (Hardcover)

As a student of Zen and Taoism for many years (in my earlier days), it was refreshing to come back and view the principles put forth on Dr. Behr's book; especially through the lens of selling. As an entrepreneur, I must express the high value his words carry for me, from both a management and selling standpoint. The truths spoken here are universal truths: which provide great clarity and enable the selling and management process to move forward; with purpose, direction and without fear. Kudos for a very fine book! I shall refer to it often as my company grows!

Bennett Brecht
President
Opus Media, Corp.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Lets the customers speak". Easy!, September 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tao of Sales: The Easy Way to Sell in Tough Times (Hardcover)

Last April 99 my wife and me were walking down the "Paseo de Gracia" in Barcelona (Spain), in a very important fair of books "Sant Jordi". When we stopped in one of the small shops on the street, we watched the titles and I were attracted by one of them "The TAO of Sales". I bought it, and when I started to read I couldn't stop. During days I were speaking about the book with my colleges in the office and my close family. I started to use some techniques with our customers. "Lets the customers speak". Easy! but difficult to do it. I found on this book a new way of relationship with our custumeres. Thank you very much at Mr. Behr, for this incredible work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to make money in sales and keep your integrity., January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tao of Sales: The Easy Way to Sell in Tough Times (Hardcover)

A friend of mine called me to say I must read this book. He had been selling cosmetic products and not doing well. This book showed him how to stop pushing products/services or manipulating customers and how to start meeting people's needs with integrity and authenticity. The book aligns itself with the old wisdom of Taoism in a light, easy to understand way, but it is completely modern by a man who has trained many salespeople. I recommend it to anyone who has to sell their products or services to customers (or to their manager and others within a company)... specially if you want to sell better while enjoying your work in sales and get to know your customers as people, not "targets" or "market segments".